Trader bets send Ethereum higher on ETF nod optimism

Happy Thursday!

Investors turned bullish on Ethereum over the past week, according to crypto trading platform FalconX. Trading volumes have doubled over the past two days as analyst’s speculate over the potential approval of Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds in the US.

Let’s dig in.

Bullish buying

Investors are keen on Ethereum as analysts predict futures ETFs could go live from early October.

The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation is up more than 2% since a week ago. It bucked a slump in crypto prices which has seen Bitcoin shed 0.7% and Ripple’s XRP drop 1% in the same period.

Ethereum trading volume has perked up this week, too. Daily volumes doubled from about $200 million on Tuesday to over $430 million on Thursday.

Institutional investors have also become more optimistic on the cryptocurrency. FalconX’s head of research, David Lewant, detailed investor activity on the platform over the past week.

“Our Ethereum flow also tilted more bullish,” he said, noting that 59% of the firm’s flow was on the buy side, compared to 50% for Bitcoin. Ethereum buying was up from 42% the previous week, Bitcoin was unchanged.

While Bitcoin continues to be more popular, doing 1.6 times the volume of Ethereum, its supremacy has fallen. This was the first time in nine weeks that it was lower than twice Ethereum’s volume.

An Ethereum futures ETF could be approved as soon as this week, according to speculation from ETF analysts.

Reports in August said the US Securities and Exchange Commission may approve Ethereum futures ETFs as soon as October.

The government shutdown in the US may speed up the process.

There’s a 90% chance Ethereum futures ETFs launch in October, according to a note from Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst’s Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart.

The pair expect these products will start trading from the week of October 9.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin fell 1% over the last day, down 0.5% over the past week.
• Ethereum was flat since Wednesday, but has added over 2% in the past week as sentiment improved.
• Altcoins were down across the board. Binance-affiliated BNB fell 0.5%, Ripple’s XRP dropped 1%, and Solana’s SOL was down 0.9%.

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Adam Morgan McCarthy is DL News’ London-based Markets Correspondent. Got a tip? Reach out at adam@dlnews.com.